New Rules for Methylene Chloride
Going public.
OSHA unveiled new federal occupational standards for methylene chloride in the Federal Register.
Scientists have long questioned the health effects of exposure to methylene chloride, or dichloromethane, a chemical commonly used as a degreaser, ink solvent, and paint stripper. After reevaluating methylene chloride for about 10 years, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has determined that, based on animal and human data, methylene chloride poses a significant cancer risk for workers at the current exposure limits. OSHA has developed a new rule with a workplace standard of 25 ppm as an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) and 125 ppm as a short-term exposure limit, which is considerably less than the current standard of 500 ppm 8-hour TWA. OSHA expects to publish the new standard in the Federal Register this month, and the rule will take effect 90 days later. Certain provisions, however, would not become effective for up to three years there after.
The new methylene chloride rule, which will also require exposure monitoring, medical surveillance, the establishment of regulated areas, and training, has been in the making for over 10 years. Following a National Toxicology Program bioassay in 1985 that showed that methylene chloride was carcinogenic in mice and rats, OSHA issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking. This opened the issue for public comment, and in 1991 OSHA proposed a notice of rulemaking. OSHA submitted a draft to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in 1994 but withdrew the draft for further analysis in 1995.
OSHA's final workplace standard was sent for review to the OMB on 18 July 1996. Congress mandated that the OMB review the standard to ensure that OSHA had complied with the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act, which requires assessment of the effects of enforcing the standard on small businesses. In addition, the 28 September 1996 Congressional Record stated that "the Office of Management and Budget should ensure that OSHA's assessment of the potential health risk posed by methylene chloride is consistent with the Environmental Protection Agency's reassessment of that chemical under its proposed guidelines for carcinogen risk assessment, and that the workplace standard would not pose problems for compliance with Environmental Protection Agency regulation of methylene chloride emissions."
According to Christine Whittaker Sofge, OSHA's project officer for methylene chloride, the OMB determined in October that OSHA had complied with the small business act and that the EPA supported OSHA's use of the scientific information in the risk assessment. "We explained our risk assessment to the EPA and we got a lot of support for our methodology," Sofge said.
According to William Farland, director of the EPA's Office of Health and Environment Assessment, the EPA is also considering an evaluation of methylene chloride, which could result in a new environmental exposure standard.
Meanwhile, industry groups are questioning the methodology OSHA used to arrive at the new standard. The Halogenated Solvents Industrial Alliance (HSIA) and the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology (CIIT) argue that methylene chloride is not a human carcinogen because mouse studies on methylene chloride (which OSHA used as a basis for its risk assessment) do not adequately predict human response because the metabolism and carcinogenic response of mice is different than that of humans. Adam Finkel, director of health standards for OSHA, says that in performing its assessment the agency used a model that took into account that humans are substantially less sensitive than mice or rats, but, "not infinitely so." The industry groups assert, however, that the data do not show that methylene chloride is carcinogenic in rats or hamsters and CIIT studies conclude that such data may be more appropriate for human risk assessment than mice data. Because of this, industry representatives do not support the standard. "We are vehemently opposed to this [standard]," said Peter Voytek, executive director of the HSIA. "We're going to fight it." HSIA supports a standard of 50 ppm, Voytek said.
Furthermore, the HSIA and the CIIT are critical of OSHA for not opening the risk assessment to peer review. "Without [seeking] peer review, OSHA is going to get a lot of flack from the scientific community," Voytek said. "If they get by with this, it sets precedent for other chemicals. To not have their [work] peer-reviewed is not going to be acceptable."
Roger McClellan, president of the CIIT, says that he is more concerned about the process by which OSHA arrived at the exposure limit than the actual amount of the limit. "If they've used all the science and they arrive at 25 [ppm], so be it," McClellan said. "I want to see a process in which the best science is used. I want to see a clear linkage of the science to a policy decision."
OSHA maintains that its scientists have reviewed all the research and that the risk assessment is accurate. "We looked at [the HSIA's and the CIIT's research] and we determined that their evidence was not compelling enough," said Sofge. "We've looked at all the studies and we still believe that methylene chloride should be considered a potential occupational carcinogen." Once the standard is released, industry groups could take legal action to halt the enforcement of the ruling.
Peace of Mind about Pesticides
In August President Clinton continued his campaign of using federal action to protect food safety when he signed into law an overhaul of the legislation that sets permissible levels for pesticide residues in foods. The legislation (P.L. 104-170), known as the Food Quality Protection Act, supplants sections of both the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). The new act received support from a number of environmental, public health, industry, and agricultural groups and was passed nearly unanimously by Congress.
Clinton said the new Food Quality Protection Act was the culmination of previous efforts to ensure the safety of American food and water. Less than a month earlier, the president had announced reforms of the federal safety rules governing meat and poultry, replacing a 90-year-old inspection program based on sight, touch, and smell with one based on assessment of microbial contamination. In December 1995, the Food and Drug Administration took aim at the seafood industry, revamping rules governing how fish processors should protect the public health.
Another step to safety.
The new Food Quality Protection Act will revamp federal rules for food safety including standards for handling and pesticide residues.
The main effect of the latest legislation will be to attack regulatory inconsistencies in the two major pesticide statutes. Under the new law, the patchwork of standards included in the FFDCA and FIFRA will be replaced by the requirement that pesticide residue levels in food be "safe," defined as "a reasonable certainty that no harm will result from aggregate exposure." It is hoped that this approach will keep problems like the FFDCA's "Delaney paradox" from arising. Under the Delaney clause, cancer-causing agents were kept out of foods completely if the agent would be more concentrated in the processed food than in the raw agricultural commodity. Paradoxically, such pesticides were sometimes replaced by more dangerous though noncarcinogenic chemicals. The new standards will apply equally to all risks, without giving special treatment to cancer risks.
Other provisions in the act should impart greater flexibility to the EPA in determining how pesticides may be used. In certain narrow circumstances, for example, the new law allows limits for pesticide residues to be set that do not meet the law's safety standards if it can be shown that the benefits afforded by such an application far outweigh the risks. Specifically, such tolerances will be allowed if the pesticide protects the public from a greater health risk or if a more stringent tolerance would result in "a significant disruption in domestic production of an adequate, wholesome, and economical food supply." The new law also gives the EPA greater power to suspend the use of pesticides in emergency situations, and it allows the agency to expedite the review of new pesticides to replace more dangerous ones currently in use. In late August, the EPA took advantage of these new powers when it allowed the emergency use of the pesticide pyridaben to control mites on apples in Delaware, New Jersey, and Virginia. EPA concluded that pyridaben was the only viable alternative to the miticide propargite, which had been used on apples until its manufacturer canceled such uses because of dietary health risk concerns.
Based on recommendations made by the National Academy of Sciences in its 1993 report Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children, the law will also require for the first time that the EPA publish a specific assessment of a pesticide's risk to infants and children before tolerances are set. Under the law, an additional safety factor can be included in the tolerances to account for the higher vulnerability of young people. "Chemicals can go a long way in a small body," President Clinton said in his weekly radio address after signing the bill into law. "If a pesticide poses a danger to our children, then it won't be in our food."
Another groundbreaking provision in the Food Quality Protection Act is its requirement that pesticides eventually be screened for estrogenic and other endocrine effects. The act sets forth an ambitious schedule for the EPA, requiring that it develop a screening program within two years, implement it within three years, and be ready to report back to Congress in four years with recommendations for safety standards based on the studies. Though the study of endocrine disrupters has been a high priority at the EPA in recent years, little is known yet about the mechanisms by which environmental chemicals affect human hormones.
To help consumers stay informed about what pesticides are in their foods and the possible dangers associated with them, the new law requires that the EPA publish a short consumer-directed pamphlet explaining such risks and warning the public of any loose tolerances that the EPA has established based on a pesticide's benefits. This way, consumers would know, for example, if their apples had been treated with pyridaben while the EPA was permitting its emergency use. The pamphlets would be distributed to large retail grocers to pass on to their customers.
The Food Quality Protection Act also authorizes the EPA to monitor pesticide residue levels in food and levy civil penalties for noncompliance. It makes EPA tolerance levels the national standard, in most cases preempting even more stringent state laws. The act requires that the EPA review all current pesticide tolerance levels over the next 10 years, and requires the agency to reassess all tolerances on a 15-year cycle.
"I like to think of it as the Peace of Mind Act," President Clinton said, "because parents will know that the fruits, grains, and vegetables that their children eat are safe."
CFC Smuggling
A year after the United States banned the production and importation of most chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the illegal importation of CFCs--which destroy the stratospheric ozone that protects the earth from ultraviolet radiation--continues to thrive. The United States implemented the ban on CFCs as part of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, a treaty signed by 150 countries calling for an eventual international ban on CFCs. The U.S. ban took effect 31 December 1995.
One of the most commonly used CFCs is CFC-12, or R-12, manufactured by DuPont and often referred to by its registered trade name, freon. Freon is used in the air-conditioning systems of most cars manufactured before 1994. Although the ban included usage allowances for existing freon (which let U.S. citizens purchase and use freon that was manufactured before 1996 or that had been recycled), this supply is dwindling, causing the cost to increase. Martin Topper, a staff member of the Director's Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics, and Training at the EPA, estimates that the domestic supply of freon will last for another one or two years. "The clock is running short," he said.
The EPA has approved many alternatives to freon for automotive air-conditioning systems, most of which use hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). However, the cost of altering air-conditioning systems to use new coolants can be as high as $1,200 per car, says Frank Allison, executive director of the International Mobile Air-Conditioning Association. Allison estimates that only about 10% of cars with systems designed to use freon have been adjusted to use alternative coolants.
The combination of high price, decreasing supply, and high demand of freon has prompted the illegal importation of the CFC, which is still being produced in several countries. The black market for freon began to develop years before the ban, when the government began a phaseout of CFCs. In 1992, the EPA began to set "consumption allowances," or annual limits on the manufacture and importation of CFCs. Each year, the limits were reduced in an attempt to encourage recycling and the development of alternative coolants, as well as to discourage attempts to stockpile CFCs before the impending ban. Congress also imposed a significant excise tax on the sale or use of CFCs, which has risen from $3.35 per pound in 1993 to $5.35 per pound in 1996.
Despite efforts to discourage illegal importation and use of freon, the trade continues. "Between 1994 and 1996, we have clear evidence that 4,300 tons [of freon] was illegally imported, and we seized as much of that as we could," Topper said. He says it is difficult to estimate the total amount of freon being imported because it is contraband. Topper says that the illegal trade is thriving because of the large financial incentive. Freon can be purchased overseas for about $1.00-$2.00 per pound and then sold in the United States for $20.00-$25.00 per pound, he said. Legal domestic freon sells for about $20.00 per pound.
Florida and Texas have experienced much of the illegal activity. In response, special agents of the Customs Service, the Internal Revenue Service, and the EPA have formed a multiagency enforcement effort based in Miami, named "Operation Cool Breeze." Thus far, the effort has resulted in the prosecution of more than a dozen people who have violated customs laws, the Clean Air Act, and tax laws. In Texas, the U.S. Customs Service has begun "Operation Frio Tejas" to stop the smuggling of freon into Texas from Mexico. So far, this effort has resulted in the arrest and indictment of three individuals and the seizure of several thousand pounds of freon. When convicted of smuggling freon, criminals face large fines and heavy tax penalties. "In some cases, we're talking about millions and even tens of millions of dollars in tax liability," Topper said.
In addition to concerns about environmental protection, Topper added that the illegal importation of freon poses other concerns. "Anything purchased on the black market can be of questionable purity and may be harmful to air conditioners," he said. "The public really needs to know that installing illegal freon could possibly damage their air-conditioning systems and might even cause injuries.
"For the sake of safety and health, people should be careful that the freon [they use] has been recycled or otherwise legally obtained in this country," Topper continued. He said this can be ensured by dealing with reputable automotive repair facilities.
Going Green in the Gulf
Years of oil production and the recent war have generated widespread pollution in the Persian Gulf region. In an action unprecedented for countries in this area, Bahrain, a small country located on a group of 33 islands in the gulf, has recently passed comprehensive legislation to protect its environment.
"The new law has given us a legal instrument to facilitate the promotion of our environment, and to back up the enforcement of the polluter-to-pay principle and/or other fines, as well as to take the appropriate necessary measures in order to comply with the law," said Hasan Juma, a chemist with Bahrain's Environmental Protection Committee. According to Environmental Profiles: A Global Guide to Projects and People, Bahrain's major environmental problems have been caused by oil spills and industrial discharges, particularly by the metal treatment industry. This pollution has caused the degradation of coastlines, coral reefs, and sea vegetation, and is threatening marine life in the Persian Gulf.
The law, made effective 13 July 1996, contains 33 articles detailing environmental provisions. It delegates the authority to enforce the new law to Bahrain's environmental protection agency, and states that the agency should take the necessary steps to protect the environment. The law also states that a director general is to be appointed by the emir of Bahrain to oversee the environmental regulations.
Among the provisions is the establishment of a new facility to be a laboratory for the environment. The law also calls for an environmental education system and the development of programs to train people to work in environmental affairs. In addition, the law mandates a survey of environmental conditions in Bahrain and the development of a program to solve environmental problems. The law suggests that the environmental protection agency look at existing international research, regulations, and agreements in developing programs and regulations for Bahrain.
The law states that the environmental protection agency must work with other government agencies to set standards to protect the environment and human health in areas such as the use of machinery, the use of pesticides, construction, and the production and use of hazardous materials. It also stresses the importance of worker safety; companies must obtain permission from the environmental protection agency to use hazardous materials and, in workplaces where such materials are used, a list of the materials must be posted. In addition, industries must properly treat waste, and projects must be assessed for environmental impacts.
Under the law, industries that violate the law may be imprisoned and fined an amount not to exceed 50,000 dinar (about $100,000). In addition, violators can be shut down until they comply with regulations.
Novel Estrogen Receptor Discovered
Jan-Ake Gustafsson of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden dropped a bomb on attendees at a conference earlier this year in Lake Tahoe when he announced the discovery of a novel estrogen receptor in the rat prostate and ovary. Gustafsson was scheduled to speak on a different topic, but chose instead to give his audience a sneak preview of the unexpected findings uncovered by his research group in Sweden. Prior to the recent discovery, scientists believed there was only one estrogen receptor, and only one gene for that receptor.
Estrogen receptors belong to the family of nuclear receptors that are ligand-activated transcription factors. Hormones and other signaling molecules bind with nuclear receptors to influence expression of particular gene sequences. It is through this action that steroid hormones, such as estrogen, are thought to regulate cell growth, differentiation, and metabolic activity.
Gustafsson was just as shocked by the discovery of the estrogen receptor, which his group calls ER-beta, as conference attendees were to hear about it. "At the time, we were searching for a novel androgen receptor in the prostate and, quite surprisingly, came up with the unexpected discovery of a novel estrogen receptor," says Gustafsson. One of the interests of Gustafsson's group is the investigation of orphan receptors, putative receptors within the nuclear receptor super gene family for which no known ligand has been identified.
The group originally set out to screen rat prostate tissue for novel nuclear receptors using PCR-amplification and complementary DNA cloning techniques. Degenerate primer sets were used. These primer sets were based on highly conserved regions with DNA-binding and ligand-binding domains of the known nuclear receptor family. One of the primer sets resulted in the cloning of an unknown sequence, which the researchers called clone 29. Clone 29 DNA was subsequently found to be highly homologous to the cDNA of the estrogen receptor (ER) found in the rat uterus. Full-length cDNA was then cloned from a prostate cDNA library using clone 29. Comparison of protein sequences confirmed that the novel receptor is closely related to the rat ER, and in vitro translation and synthesis of novel receptor protein showed it to have a high binding affinity for estrogens. In situ hybridization demonstrated prominent expression of the novel receptor in the prostate and ovary. Cotransfection experiments using Chinese hamster ovary cells found that, in the presence of estrogens, the novel receptor protein activates the expression of an estrogen response element-containing reporter gene. The investigators concluded that they had cloned a novel estrogen receptor, which they named ER-beta to distinguish it from the known estrogen receptor, ER-alpha.
Kenneth Korach, scientific program director of the environmental disease and medicine program at the NIEHS said that the discovery of ER-beta may help researchers understand why estrogen acts differently in the same tissue. For example, in the pituitary gland estrogen inhibits gonadatropin synthesis in some cells, but stimulates prolactin synthesis in others. This differential action may now be explained by the existence of ER-beta. Furthermore, ER-beta may prove useful in identifying and evaluating effects of environmentally active compounds, such as phytoestrogens. According to Korach, "ER-beta has opened up a tremendous area of research; currently it's what everyone is talking about."
There is speculation on the role ER-beta may play in hormonally induced cancers. Like ER-alpha, ER-beta may stimulate overactivity of estrogen receptor-regulated genes, resulting in uncontrolled or malignant growth. In addition, the existence of ER-beta may explain why some cancers become antiestrogen refractory.
According to Gustafsson, ER-beta may also have significant importance in vessel walls, bone, and the central nervous system. Also, some synthetic compounds may interact preferentially with ER-beta. Such interaction may be important in research and development of drugs against osteoporosis and atherosclerosis.
Burning Remnants of War
Despite several delays because of technical start-up difficulties and legal challenges by environmental groups, incineration of munitions and chemical weapons from World War II began in late September at the Tooele Military Depot in Tooele, Utah. But new allegations last month of technical problems by a former manager at the facility are raising questions about safety and rekindling concerns about environmental issues.
Photo credit: U.S. Army Chemical Material Destruction AgencyHe
The Tooele facility is the first full-scale facility in the continental United States built to destroy chemical weapons and eliminate nerve and mustard agents. During the next seven years, incinerators at the $400-million facility are scheduled to destroy 1.1 million weapons--projectiles (artillery shells and mortar rounds), cartridges and mines, rockets, bombs, and chemical agents such as the nerve agents GB and VX, and the blister agent, mustard--or approximately 40% of the country's chemical weapons stockpile.
In 1985, Congress directed that munitions and chemical warfare agents must be destroyed by 2004. Many of the weapons were manufactured in the 1940s and 1950s and are now stored in bulk containers at the depot, which are leaking, necessitating their disposal. The Tooele facility estimates that the weapons stockpiled there will be destroyed by 2003, when the plant will be dismantled in accordance with congressional guidelines.
Munitions stored at Tooele are placed in specially designed, protective containers that are monitored for leaks before they are moved to the on-base incineration plant, which consists of three incinerators, each with its own pollution abatement system. The chemical agent, metal parts, and explosive components are disassembled, then destroyed separately to ensure safe and complete destruction, according to an Army spokesperson. During this process, weapons are loaded onto a conveyor and sent to a special thick-walled explosive containment room. Here, automated equipment punctures and drains the chemical agent from the rockets before shearing them into pieces. All rocket parts and explosive components go directly to a deactivation furnace. For mortars or other projectiles, special machines remove explosive components while leaving the chemcial agent inside. Once such weapons are no longer explosive, they are moved to an area where the chemical agent is drained. Drained chemicals are stored in tanks for later disposal in an incinerator designed for liquids. The metal parts remaining from these weapons are thermally decontaminated in a metal parts furnace, and other remaining materials are destroyed in yet another incinerator. Ash and decontaminated metal parts are packaged and transported to an approved landfill. The liquid brine resulting from the treatment of exhaust gases in the pollution control system is dried to reduce its volume and then sent to a landfill.
Heat-seeking missiles?
Projectiles are just part of the 40% of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile scheduled to be incinerated at the Tooele Military Depot.
A similar facility--the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS)--has been operational by the Army on the Johnston Atoll, 700 miles south of Hawaii, since 1990. To date, JACADS has undergone four operational verification tests and destroyed more than 2 million pounds of chemical agents.
Before incineration was selected as the means of destroying the munitions stored at Tooele, Congress directed the Army to conduct tests to verify that an incineration process can safely destroy chemical weapons. According to a National Research Council (NRC) report, incineration continues to be the choice method because there currently is no "feasible alternative for disposal of energetics." A new NRC report issued in late September did recommend, however, that alternative technology be considered for other weapons sites, none of which, included energetics in their stockpiles. The NRC is the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering and provides independent advice on science and technology issues under a congressional charter.
But several environmental groups were not convinced that incineration was the best choice for the facility. The Sierra Club, the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, and the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a coalition of groups from eight communities (including Tooele) where the Army would like to build weapons destruction plants, claimed in court that a supplemental environmental impact statement was required before the plant could operate. The groups based their initial challenge on alleged evidence about problems at the prototype Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System, new information about dioxin exposure from incineration, and the possibility of using alternative technologies for the destruction.
A late November report published in the Los Angeles Times described allegations by Gary Millar, the former general manager of the incineration plant operated by EG&G Inc., that company managers routinely disregard safety problems and that theplant's operation is falling short of the anticipated destruction rates. Millar says he was fired by EG&G Inc. in October after he raised safety concerns. Meanwhile Millar's letter has prompted an investigation by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, which issued the operating permit to EG&G Inc., into the plant's operations.
An August statewide poll of 602 Utah residents conducted by Dan Jones and Associates and the Salt Lake City Desert News showed 46% of those surveyed believed that the Army should not or probably should not be allowed to burn the weapons at Tooele, while 39% said that incineration should or probably should occur.
But not all of Tooele's neighbors were particularly concerned about the incineration. According to a New York Times report in September, as few as four people attended some of the public meetings about the incineration plans, and new housing under construction nearby was "selling briskly."
U.S. District Court Judge Tena Campbell decided in Salt Lake City in August that the environmental plaintiffs "did not show that there is an actual risk to some person or persons posed by the emissions of the hazardous materials being incinerated." For individuals living closest to the facility, the judge wrote, "the risks resulting from continued storage are 100 times greater than the risks resulting from disposal operations." According to the Army, there have been neither deaths nor personal injuries to humans from the munitions stored at the depot since it opened in 1943, although several thousand sheep were accidentally killed by an open-air test almost 30 years ago.
Craig Williams, head of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, said the Millar letter "flies in the face of the entire case made by the federal government that this facility can protect human life and the environment."
EHPnet
Joining the Great Asia Debate
Throughout Asia and the Pacific, countries eager to realize the high standard of living enjoyed in countries like Singapore and Taiwan are scurrying to put together the manufacturing and trade bases necessary for a profitable existence in the modern world. Policy experts in Asia, however, are beginning to wonder what price these countries are willing to pay for development. Unprecedented environmental degradation has been seen recently in parts of Southeast Asia, and many worry that in their quest for wealth, Asian countries will sacrifice their natural resources. "The debate over linkage between trade and the environment continues unabated," writes Bunn Nagara of the Malaysian Institute of Strategic and International Studies, a government think-tank. "One consequence seemed only inevitable: no multilateral [environmental] regulatory code exists, or appears likely to emerge in the foreseeable future. Neither is there agreement that there [should] be such a code impinging on trade."
As development in the nations of Southeast Asia moves forward, the Nautilus Institute, a policy-oriented research and consulting group based in Berkeley, California, is making an effort to facilitate international discussion and cooperation on issues relating to the environment and sustainable development. The centerpiece of this effort is the Asia-Pacific Environment Network, known as APRENet. Located on the World Wide Web at
http://www.nautilus.org/aprenet/index.html, APRENet provides the latest information and reports on the Asian environment and a forum for users to participate in ongoing debates over policies for Asia's future. APRENet resources include electronic bulletin boards, an on-line library, and links to related material.
Users are required to register for certain APRENet services by following the link on the APRENet homepage. They can then decide in which of APRENet's three main discussion groups they would like to participate. Separate electronic mail networks are maintained for issues concerning the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC), the development of the Mekong Region of Southeast Asia, and the development of the area surrounding the Tumen River (which runs along the border of China and North Korea). At present, however, only the APEC network is fully functional; the Mekong Region network is nearly complete, and the Tumen River network is still in development. Registering to participate in these networks, called Virtual Policy Forums, allows users to receive biweekly news reports and op-ed pieces by electronic mail and to post their own insights and opinions for other users to read.
Even without registering, however, users who visit the APRENet homepage can access a variety of information. The APRENet electronic library, for example, contains over 75 documents, reports, speeches, and other on-line resources related to environmental issues in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, there are sections on
APEC,
the Mekong area,, and
Tumen River area, in the library, as well as an extensive list of links to sites maintained by APEC.
Additional information on APEC, as well as another way to access the APEC Virtual Policy Forum, can be found through the
APEC Environment Monitor link
on the APRENet homepage. Here, users will find a calendar of APEC meetings and seminars, links to related sites, facts on APEC, and an APEC database (though these last two resources are still under construction). Users can also follow
FOCUS, on APEC link on the APRENet homepage to the FOCUS on the Global South homepage. FOCUS on the Global South is a sister network to APRENet that is maintained in Thailand and also collects and distributes information on APEC and other topics related to sustainable development.
The Nautilus homepage, link offers information on Asian development outside the realm of APRENet, including links to networks focusing on peace and security, energy, and the environment in Northeast Asia.
Last Update: January 22, 1997